About Us

Steve Brunskill

Co-Founder & Program Director of Youth Out Loud

Steve Brunskill is a highly regarded Educational facilitator & speaker working in schools in Australia & South East Asia over the past two decades. During that time he has also conducted many corporate Leadership & Team building programs in Singapore & Malaysia.

At the same time he has successfully owned & operated his Construction business in Melbourne, Australia for the past 30 years.

Steve takes the real life experiences he has learned in his business life to help inspire thousands of students & young people to make positive choices & changes in their lives by Standing up & Standing Strong for what they believe in.

Throughout his life Steve has experienced many highs & lows and most importantly has developed key Resilience & Leadership skills & strategies to not only turn his life around but to thrive and become the successful entrepreneur he is today.

Steve is the father of Kate (a primary school teacher) & Christopher (Co-founder of Live Out Loud).

Nathan Taiaroa

Inspiring others, taking a stand and making a difference are just a few of the core values that make Nathan an invaluable member of the Youth Out Loud team.

His experience leading adventures, living abroad, and exploring the road less traveled coupled with his enthusiasm for life, humour and ability to connect with the people, culture and the environment around him makeNathan the perfect person to Co-lead our latest brain-child, Youth Out Loud.

Naturally a competitive person, Nathan is driven to explore, push the boundaries and challenge himself. Initially this led Nathan to chase a corporate career as an accountant with Ernst & Young where at 24 he was promoted to a managerial position. Whilst enjoying the experience and the challenge, Nathan knew that this form of corporate life was not his true passion and at 26 he mustered up the courage to take the LEAP, resign and follow his heart.

In 2014, Nathan joined the ‘fight against poverty’, volunteering at The School of St Jude (www.schoolofstjude.co.tz), a charity providing a free private school education to 2,000 impoverished Tanzanian students. After a successful and rewarding year at St Jude’s, Nathan moved to Kenya and volunteered at the Mirror of Hope (www.mirrorofhopecbo.com), a community based organisation implementing valuable health, education and entrepreneurial initiatives for people suffering from HIV or AIDS in Africa’s second largest slum, Kibera.

Most recently, Nathan has been facilitating leadership programs in schools, clubs and universities throughout Africa and Europe and next year plans to continue doing so in North America.

Drawing on these and other extensive experiences, Nathan is extremely excited to embark on his next big challenge. The creation of Adventure Out Loud, an ambitious joint venture between Nathan and Live Out Loud Australia. The venture’s aim is to inspire, empower and facilitate a meaningful and positive journey of self-exploration, service and adventure for its participants while exploring exciting and exotic global destinations such as East Africa.

It is Nathan’s passion to see you make positive change in your life and in the lives of those around you. Visit Adventure Out Loud.me for further details and to book your next life-changing adventure.

Sue Nelson

Educational Consultant

Sue Nelson is an Educational Consultant working with the team at Youth Out Loud to strengthen the curriculum links in schools with our leadership and resilience programs.

A former School Principal with 35 years of association with State Government Schools in Victoria, Australia, Sue brings a real passion for engaging all learners, in real life learning. She is currently undertaking PhD studies at Deakin University where she will examine best practice in Project Based Learning and the development of Student Organised Learning Environments. This research will provide our own evidence based data to back up what we do in the programs we run at Youth Out Loud.

Jen Lawson

Communication and Operations

Her love of working with children and the experience of running an online health and wellness magazine leads to brilliant communication and support of our team,so that our programs are delivered without a hitch and with maximum positive impact.

In addition, Jen’s passion for photography helps her to spontaneously capture the essence of young people expressing themselves wherever she goes.

Louis Cooke

Youth advocate and Ambassador

Louis is a passionate film maker who has a determination for using his talents to create change on youth issues. He already has a number of recent film credits to his name and in 2016, whilst school captain of Mt Eliza Secondary College and at our request, he led a team that produced an amazing video on Bullying.

This video is helping to create a new definition for bullying and change the overall stigma surrounding this traumatizing “dis-ease” affecting our youth of today. He is a most welcome addition to our Board

Tia Alexandorvich

Youth advocate and Ambassador

Tia, whilst the youngest member of our exciting team, is probably one the most passionate. She is a leader of change and for the past 18 months has been actively involved with youth leadership, at Mt Eliza Secondary College in 2016 whilst doing her year 12 studies and the local communities on the Mornington Peninsular, Victoria where she lives.

During 2016 she was appointed the “Youth Ambassador” for the Mornington Peninsular Shire.

She has now completed her year 12 studies and is looking forward to actively standing up and standing strong for youth issues with Youth Out Loud in the future.

Simon Pugh

Youth advocate and Ambassador

Simon is a young man on a mission to make a difference in the world. He currently is studying Advertising and Communication at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.

He has a passion for the issue of bullying and is dedicated to bringing positive change on this and many other issues young people in particular are faced with today.

With his unique passion and communication skills Simon brings a great deal of enthusiasm and integrity to Youth Out Loud and we are most grateful to have him on board.

Hannah Swinnerton

Youth advocate and Ambassador

The newest member of our Youth Out Loud team is Hannah Swinnerton. Hannah has been an amazing example of what Youth Out Loud is all about.

At school she was severely bullied on a daily basis. Eventually in her Final year of secondary college she made her stand against this awful harassment.

Hannah is now a youth advocate and ambassador for Youth Out Loud sharing her story, how she overcame bullying and how other young people can make their stand againstany youth issues they face.

Hannah is now thriving in her life as a youth advocate and Ambassador for Youth Out Loud. Hannah’s drive, commitment and passion for improving the mental health of young people inspireseveryone at Youth Out Loud every day